The Battle of Kursk [Paperback]

David M. Glantz (Author), Jonathan M. House (Author)

Book Description

Series: Modern War Studies | Publication Date: July 2004

Immense in scope, ferocious in nature, and epic in consequence, the Battle of Kursk witnessed (at Prokhorovka) one of the largest tank engagements in world history and led to staggering losses--including nearly 200,000 Soviet and 50,000 German casualties within the first ten days of fighting. Going well beyond all previous accounts, David Glantz and Jonathan House now offer the definitive work on arguably the greatest battle of World War II.

Drawing on both German and Soviet sources, Glantz and House separate myth from fact to show what really happened at Kursk and how it affected the outcome of the war. Their access to newly released Soviet archival material adds unprecedented detail to what is known about this legendary conflict, enabling them to reconstruct events from both perspectives and describe combat down to the tactical level.

The Battle of Kursk takes readers behind Soviet lines for the first time to reveal what the Red Army knew about the plans for Hitler's offensive (Operation Citadel), relive tank warfare and hand-to-hand combat, and tell how the tide of battle turned. Its vivid portrayals of fighting in all critical sectors places the famous tank battle in its proper context. Prokhorovka here is not a well-organized set piece but a confused series of engagements and hasty attacks, with each side committing its forces piecemeal.

Glantz and House's fresh interpretations demolish many of the myths that suggest Hitler might have triumphed if Operation Citadel had been conducted differently. Theirs is the first account to provide accurate figures of combat strengths and losses, and it includes 32 maps that clarify troop and tank movements.

Shrouded in obscurity and speculation for more than half a century, the Battle of Kursk finally gets its due in this dramatic retelling of the confrontation that marked the turning point of the war on the Eastern front and brought Hitler's blitzkrieg to a crashing halt.

This book is part of the Modern War Studies series.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A good read. Looks at the traditional approach to Kursk and provides another well-founded interpretation of the battle. -- Parameters

An outstanding work on one of the most significant battles of World War II. -- Journal of Military History

The definitive analysis of Kursk. Ranks among the decade's most distinguished works of military history. -- Dennis Showalter, History Book Club Review

From the Back Cover

The most detailed, authoritative, and thorough analysis of the massive battle that led to the final victory of the Red Army over the Germans. This outstanding book deserves the highest praise.--Malcolm Mackintosh, author of Juggernaut: A History of Soviet Armed Forces

"The Battle of Kursk combines the authors' encyclopedic knowledge of their subject with a panoramic narrative of military operations to challenge the 'myths of Kursk.' Drawing heavily upon hitherto classified Soviet material, as well as German sources, the work is both original and revisionist, making it a major contribution to our understanding of one of the most important operations of the Second World War."--John Erickson, author of The Road to Stalingrad

"At last we have an account of the battle of Kursk from the Soviet perspective. And what an account! It is meticulously researched, persuasively argued, full of new and important findings, and written with verve and pathos. This is operational history at its best."--Joel S. A. Hayward, author of Stopped at Stalingrad

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Product Details

• Paperback: 485 pages
• Publisher: Univ Pr of Kansas (July 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0700613358
• ISBN-13: 978-0700613359
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #80,488 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #68 in Books > History > Military > Weapons & Warfare > Conventional

More About the Author

David M Glantz is a former US Army intelligence specialist with a unique knowledge of the Russian army and Russian military history. His WHEN TITANS CLASHED is the standard single volume account of the war in Russia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

101 of 102 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must-read for all deeply interested in WWII Eastern Front, October 27, 1999

By 

Charles A. Meconis (Seattle, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Battle of Kursk (Modern War Studies) (Hardcover)

"The Battle of Kursk" is a must-read for anyone seriously interested in "operational" (i.e. batallion units and above) level warfare in the context of the pivotal 1943 World War II Eastern Front Battle of Kursk. If Stalingrad was the end of the beginning, Kursk was the beginning of the end for the Wehrmacht in Russia. What makes this book unique is the expert authors' access to and translations of crucial Soviet recently de-classified battle accounts. These provide an essential correlary (and, in some cases, corrective) to previously published German accounts of the battle. The mythical July 12 tank battle at Prokhorovka is critically examined and placed in a proper context. This book also does an excellent job of placing the entire Kursk battle in its larger context, from Manstein's early 1943 "Miracle" counteroffensive on the Don, to the subsequent Soviet summer offensive that resulted in the capture of Kharkov. The maps and index are excellent, and the many appendices contain a treasure trove of statistical information. The few minor errors re German forces (e.g. calling Rudolf von Ribbentrop a Tiger Company commander, when his 6th Company of the Leibstandarte division's Panzer Regiment actually consisted of less powerful Mark IVs) are trivial. No other book on the battle of Kursk presents so thorough and convincing an explanation of how and why Operation Zitadelle failed, especially pages 138-147 on the "fateful decisions" made on July 9. The technical information and tank photos provided by Steven Zaloga are the icing on the cake. At last, the battle of Kursk laid bare, with supreme diligence.

86 of 93 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Authoritative & Compelling Overview of The Battle At Kursk!, August 11, 2000

By 

Barron Laycock "Labradorman" (Temple, New Hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Battle of Kursk (Modern War Studies) (Hardcover)

It is perhaps a considerable understatement to argue that history has not been kind in interpreting the German conduct of the war against the Russians along the Eastern front. Nowhere was their conduct more self-defeating or more disastrous than at Kursk, in one of the most epochal battles in the war. In this book, authors David M. Glantz and Jonathan M. House, noted authors of other such singular tomes about Operation Barbarossa and the later Russian campaigns into Germany as "When Titans Clashed", concentrate provocatively on the particulars of the epic exchanges at Kursk that changed the calculus of the Second World War, not only for the Russian front of the war, but for the entire Allied war effort in Europe. In this regard, if Stalingrad was the point at which the fortunes of the Wehrmacht were first so fatefully reversed, then Kursk was the point of no return, where the unavoidable destiny of the eventual defeat and horrific destruction of the Nazi regime was all that lay ahead.

The Battle of Kursk was one of the most pivotal and epochal struggles in the Allied war against the Germans. It was one of the largest tank engagements in military history, and through its devastating destruction in terms of the number of functional and operating armored vehicles left for the Wehrmacht to continue their prosecution of the war, it was the turning point in the war, the catastrophic defeat the Nazis could no longer afford to absorb. In this regard, considerable controversy has revolved around the extent to which Hitler himself was to blame, given his fabled micromanagement of the Eastern campaign in general and the battle at Kursk in particular. In this book the authors meet this controversy head on, and while many readers may not agree with the interpretations and conclusions of the authors, they will certainly appreciate the verve, scope, and details contained in their overview of the events at Kursk, and their import for subsequent events all along the Eastern front as well.

Too many Americans familiar only with the Cold War aspects of Russian history tend to be ignorant of the critical contribution the Soviets made in winning a war so essential to the survival of democracy. It is an uneasy truth that without the Russian contribution in battling up to 200 divisions of German Wehrmacht troops for over four years, our entry onto the continent in France would not have been possible in 1944. Indeed, risking such a large sea borne assault would have been problematic against a force of the numbers of troops who would have been available had they not been otherwise preoccupied and engaged in an epic effort attempting to stem the terrible onslaught they were receiving at the hands of a resurgent Soviet Army. This isn't to claim the Russians could (or would) have won the war themselves, although there are serious and scholarly arguments forwarding such propositions.

Rather, my point is that the Russians single-handedly repeatedly smashed (and cumulatively diminished) the vast and critically important war-fighting capabilities the Wehrmacht continued to thrust against them, and that in doing so they changed the course of the war both along the Eastern front and for the war against the Allies in general. The evidence of just how formidable, ferocious, and inexhaustible opponents they had become in the two short years since the inauguration of Operation Barbarossa is detailed and documented in this terrific book, which shows how the series of hasty, chaotic, and disastrous German attacks at Kursk led into the largest armored confrontation in the war and precipitated the devolution of the Wehrmacht into a fragmented, fractious, and mortally wounded fighting force that soon was compelled to retreat, step by tortuous step, all the painful way back to Berlin, losing millions of soldiers along the way. This is an authoritative, scrupulously documented, and quite entertaining account of one of the most important battles of WWII, and I highly recommend it. Enjoy.

89 of 98 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Little Bit of New Wine in Old Bottle, February 1, 2001

By 

R. A Forczyk (MD, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Battle of Kursk (Modern War Studies) (Hardcover)

The crux of this volume is new Soviet archival material on STAVKA decision-making but there is actually little new here. At less than 300 pages, this is somewhat short-shrift to a major battle. There is no discussion of air operations or partisans. Very limited profile of commanders and their forces, but excellent order of battle information. The Germans placed their faith in the 407 heavy tanks available (102 Tigers, 200 Panther and 105 Ferdinands) but they split them up too much; they should have massed their best weaponry in one sector. It is no surprise that ArmeeGruppe South made much better progress; they had much more artillery support (Center relied mostly on assault guns in direct fire mode), and much better engineer support (South had about eight corps-level engineer battalions but Center had no corps-level engineers). Glantz asks and answers several key questions: did Hitler really push Zitadelle (no, Zeitzler, Kluge and others pushed it beforehand but then blamed Hitler later), could the attack have succeeded in May (unlikely, given the weather and the disparity in forces) and what if the Germans had eschewed the attack and opted for a mobile defense (this would have bought them time, but there was no consensus for this strategy so it was highly unlikely to be adopted. It would also have required Hitler to relinquish command in the east to a CinC). Maps ok but uses cumbersome abbreviations. No terrain analysis.